Mica Todorović

Mica Todorović (1900 – 1981) was a Bosnian painter, who was a founding member of the Association of Fine Artists of Bosnia Herzegovina.

Biography Todorović was born in Sarajevo in 1900. Her secondary education was at the Girls High School there, and in 1920 she enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, where she was the only woman in her class. She graduated in 1926 and returned to Sarajevo, She then travelled to Italy, where she studied Renaissance art. During the Second World War she was imprisoned in the Stara Gradiška concentration camp and later deported to Austria to work as forced labour. In 1945 she was a founding member of the Association of Fine Artists of Bosnia Herzegovina. She was also the first woman to be a full member of the Bosnian Academy of Sciences & Arts, as a well as a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences & Arts. She was also one of the first professors at the School of Applied Arts in Sarajevo, where she worked until her retirement. She died in 1981 and is buried in Bare Cemetery. As a socialist, she became connected to the collective Zagreb Zemlja, who she exhibited work alongside in Ljubljana, and across Europe. In 1932 she returned to Sarajevo and was a member of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. From 1937 she worked primarily with paints, and develops a strong eye for colour. The gallery has over 300 of her works in its collection, some of which are on permanent display.

Lost works In 1992 the ten-storey building that belonged to the Oslobođenje newspaper was destroyed, and amongst the losses were photographs taken by Todorović.

Awards

Order of Merit for the People - Gold Star. Order of Labour - Red Flag.

Legacy A street in Gorica, the area of Sarajevo that she lived in bears her name.